The Senecas are getting a raw deal

One week after State Sen. Mark Grisanti’s Feb. 10 late night fist fight at the Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel, many words have been written.

The story has taken on a life of its own, and shows little sign of dying down - at least in the short term.

Unfortunately one of the victims is the Seneca Nation of Indians.

Seneca Nation President Robert Odawi Porter said he expected some form of negative fall out from all the media coverage, but what is irking him is how some of it has crossed lines of good taste.

“In the intervening days, several media outlets have taken this episode and sensationalized the story, reverting to salacious stereotypes, calling the incident a ‘wild brawl,’ producing headlines such as, ‘Indians on the Warpath’ and ‘Indian Whomp-‘em,’ and peppering their stories with other unseemly descriptions of my people,” Porter said. “Big city tabloids may be the greatest offenders, but a local weekly in Buffalo has also established a pattern of anti-Indian sentiments reflecting a willingness to assume the worst about our people, our business enterprises and our Nation.”

Despite being an entity that employs more than 6,000 people locally and has an annual economic impact of more than $1 billion, Porter feels the Seneca Nation is being unfairly targeted in the post-fight coverage.

He’s not wrong.

“It is without question an incident in which all parties involved should have used better judgment,” Porter said.”But it is hardly a unique occurrence in the annals of human history. Yet the media portrayals have taken the story to an unacceptable level, painting the Senecas involved with ugly, broad strokes, and disparaging an entire nation of people. I would hope that our neighbors, our friends, and those in the media would remember that the mistakes of a few do not define the reputation of the many. No responsible person would think that the actions of the few Americans are indicative of the character of all Americans; the same sentiment should apply to the Seneca people as well.”